Told with rhyme in presenting a "mysterious" older lady, Ol' Lady Grizelda gives us a delightful story. As a school Library/Media Specialist, I think this book is wonderful for reading aloud. We learn along with the main character that looking at people from afar is not always a true picture. We come to really like and appreciate this older lady. You will too!

I have been using this book in my classroom for the past three years. I have to keep buying new copies because the kids wear this book out. If you want to use a book that teaches tolerance, love and ultimately the way all people would like to be viewed, read Ol' Lady Grizelda, you will be glad you did. It has also proven to be a wonderful tool for my slower readers because of the glossary included. The language is challenging enough for my picture book/chapter book straddlers and they love, LOVE, the illustrations!

I just read a review of Ol' Lady Grizelda in a local newspaper, one quote that captured me and forced me out to a bookstore to get the book was: "It made me wish I was a kid again and could ask my mother to read the story to me over and over again. And that's saying a lot..." As I flipped through the book I was first captured by the wonderful illustration then the story line told in a clever rhyme touched my heart. Grizelda is a lovable old woman who lives life in her own way and as is true often because of her individual characteristics, she is shunned by her neighbors and fellow townspeople. A child decides to dispel his fears and the rumors that abound about her and steps up to her door. That is where everything changes (including the text, cleverly changing from third person as in a rumor to first as in the child experiencing his own time with her). You will love this book, it is a treasure that we will read for many years to come. Now I must see about Mr. Matott's "adult" books as described on the jacket cover.

Introduced to me by my Grandfather, when I was a boy, this book has continued to draw me back year after year. To reread an old favorite poem or to browse for something that may not have gotten my attention the first 100 times, it's always a pleasure to pick up this book. I read it to my kids when they were little. Now they pick it up to read for fun or to work on a school project. This was my first, and probably will be my last, favorite book.

This is the most amazing book! It includes any famous quotes, speeches, stories, poems, songs, etc. It is like having a mini-encyclopedia in one book. We use it all the time in our homeschool. You have to have this book.

I grew up with this book. My dad had one from his childhood (an original 1942 edition) which was used and used, the binding held together with duct tape. It was known in our house as "the Brown Book." It seems that the source of all the the famous lines from literature can be found in here. "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink." "And you Brutus?" Lincoln's Gettysburg address, George Washington's Farewell, even the letter from Lincoln to Mrs. Bixby (which was quoted by the commanding officer and served as the reason for "Saving Private Ryan" in the movie. Due solely to this book I was familiar with the letter long before that movie came out.) This is a wonderful resource, reference book and collection of so many of the valued literary and historical pieces from our culture. Even my five year old loves it when I read passages from it to her. Every house should have one.

"When, Why... If" is the first book I've seen that really tackles the ETHICS of Paganism past the blithe recitations of the Wiccan Rede and the Law of Return. There ought to be more - there are far too many books heavy on the HOW but very, very light on the WHY (or why not!), and living an ethical life without defined rules can be very difficult for some. Wood's book helps you define those rules for yourself. This one was hard to obtain for a while (took me more than a year to get my copy after it was recommended to me by someone I trusted) but I'm very glad it is readily available now. It's somewhat Wicca-oriented, but with the exceptions of the Appendix and the Glossary I didn't find it too intrusive.

This is not a comfortable book to read, and the exercises are rugged. You will have to look at the most unlikable parts of yourself and drag them up into the light of day, and that can be pretty unpleasant - BUT you'll be all the better for it in the end.

A great book, both for people into wiccan/pagan paths, or for persons who just want to have an introspective look at their thoughts and ethics. Each chapter is followed by a set of questions so that you can actually develop your own answers; it is written with the warm kindness Robin would teach if you were there.

This book is an extremely useful guide, specially for those who are looking for their spiritual path. I wish it were in Spanish too so more people could get it!

Robin Wood, well know illustrator and designer of the Robin Wood Tarot, shows us how to develope a method of ethical judgement to guide us through life and our practices. Besides being a must for anyone in magickal training, this book is very applicable to anyones daily life. Required reading.

This book was a pleasure to read. The prose is right on, the characters are people you'd like to hang out with, and the evocation of the small, dusty towns of northern New Mexico puts you right there.

Summer Wood's book, Arroyo, tells a sublimely beautiful tale. The insight Ms. Wood has into humanity is profound; her characters are believable; attention to detail is exraordinary; and the humor that pervades this story is magical. As I read Arroyo, I felt as though my heart was being filled with love.

In my opinion, one of the most important jobs an author has is to bring a satisfactory conclusion to all of the story lines that take place in their book, and Ms. Wood wraps things up perfectly. Upon finishing this story, my eyes filled with tears, and for thirty minutes all I was capable of doing was sit in my chair reflecting on the beauty of what I had just read. It was two weeks before I could even think of reading another book because I wanted to hold onto the feeling Arroyo left me with.

Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this book. You will be hard pressed to find a more uplifting experience, and it is likely that you will walk away from Summer Wood's Arroyo with a new found joy in your heart.

I loved this book. The characters are so well drawn that they truly came alive for me. The story is both tender and tough, quiet and explosive. I was sorry when I came to the end. This book will live in my heart for a long, long time.

This is a really good book, it is about time that someone reliezes how great Elijah Wood is. I give this book 5 stars. I think that it so well written and teh pictures are really good,I totally Love it. :)

I am a huge fan of Elijah Wood so for me this book wasbrilliant. I got to learn more about Elijah and see more of him.Even if you are not a big fan this book is great because it is really interesting to read about a celebraity and their success. END

I rate this book * * * * *, because it has style, pictures and 100% Eliajh! This is my review!

If you've never seen Out of Africa or read any book about Kenya, this novel will give you a cursory overview of Kenyan history from 1919 to the present. It is easy to follow, its characters are uncomplicated, and it certainly never lacks for plot.

Using simple words and very short sentences, Wood presents the interconnected stories of three generations of two families--the African family of a shamba-living, fig-tree worshipping witch doctor and the veddy British Treverton family of aristocrats who have come to Kenya, taken over their land, and, not surprisingly, torn down the sacred fig tree to build a polo field. The British, as exemplified by Lord Treverton, are so arrogant and insensitive in the course of their decades of power, that the local population forms the guerilla Mau Mau secret society, committing all manner of murder and mayhem indiscriminately against both the British and those Kenyans who reject Mau Mau-style violence.

Eventually, of course, the Kenyans win their independence, but not before the reader is confronted with a series of other overtly dramatic and/or sentimental plot elements: a witch doctor putting a curse on the Treverton family, a wife steadfastly rejecting her husband's sexual advances from the beginning of her marriage, two mothers pretending for years that their own children do not exist, a lover hidden successfully for months in the garden, two passionate interracial affairs between "good" characters, a long-unsolved double murder, several suicides, secret betrayals, rapes, imprisonments, numerous love affairs both serious and casual, a gay relationship, and even the belief of a contemporary female doctor, who has straight hair and "creamy skin," that she is half Kikuyu. For good measure, there are also a couple of graphic sex scenes and a series of genital mutilations. The book is so unabashedly sensational and romantic that this reader found herself wishing the Mau Mau had been more successful.

Every book I have read by Barbara Wood is an amazing blend of history, romance, complex relationships, and situations fraught with difficulties and problems to solve. Her characters bind you to them as you share their joys and hardships.

The fascinating setting in "Green City" is the early 1900s in Kenya, and involves the conflict between the rich British Treverton family who wants to establish a profitable plantation, and the neighboring tribal medicine woman who curses them for invading her people's land. Tragedies befall the Trevertons, and they struggle through the uprising of the native Kenyans as they defy the British. Complicating things is the romance between the medicine woman's black son and a young white Treverton woman.

Meanwhile, we follow the heroine, Doctor Grace Treverton, who, separating herself from the aspirations for wealth of the rest of her family, dedicates her life to serving the tribes by providing them with medical care and schooling. Yet even this big-hearted and wise woman is not immune to danger from the revolting tribes or from romantic turmoil involving a married man.

Full of romance, danger, and political and family intrigue, this 700-page book never lost my attention for a minute!

I love this book!! I try to read it once a year. It follows two families in the newly colonized British Africa, one British and one native African, through three generations. Their story is moving, easy to follow, and at times brings me to tears. I don't want to give anything away, but if you are looking for a feel good book, then don't buy this one. If you like tragedies that end in triumph, then this is the book for you.

I adore this book. It makes me feel the giddy freedom that every child deserves to know. My son loves this book and his interaction with the story has evolved over time. He went from listening to finishing the lines himself to reciting the story by rote! He turns the book around, anticipates the meeting of the characters along the path, and gives me a smile that fills my heart with joy.

Silly Sally is so very well done. My kids received it as a gift and it only took a couple of reads for them to be in love. They memorized the verse and began singing it through the house! What a delight -- even parents will have funn with this one as Silly Sally goes to town....

As a reading specialist I use this book to help develop reading fluency, since this a predictable book the student can predict who or what will happen next by looking at the pictures and looking for rhyming words thereby gaining confidence in his or her reading ability by establishing a flow.
I have this book on my shelf for my success reading time for my students. Each class starts out with 15-20 minutes of success reading and the students get to read a previously practiced book to the group and this is one of the most popular books chosen by the students.

Summer with the bears is by far the best book I've ever read. If you don't have it or haven't read it do so now. It will change your life in some way I'm sure. I first read about it in the Reader's Digest and put my copy on order for the moment it came out. Little bit and all of the other bears touched my heart so much it's hard ot describe. I felt like I was there with them as events were happening. Jack and Patti you are so lucky to have had this special time in your lives and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your sharing it with us. Just goes to show that all animals are not as we always imagine them to be, yet we know at the same time they are not all created equal. There are those that possess a special trait and willingness to be different, that was little bit. Your book was written from your heart, and the pictures helped us to be there too. I laughed and I cried along with you. so few of us will experience what you did interacting with the bears on the level that you did. I attribute your book to helping me find a hidden talent I did not know existed in me. I started sketching, and yes mostly bears. I did one of you and Patti with little bit, if you'd ever like them all you need to do is ask and they are yours. You touched my life in such a special way that in turn I'd like to touch your lives too. Hope there will be more books and I wish you all the best in your lives. Thank You for sharing your special lives with the world.

I just loved this book. Hated to come to the end. A marvelous and touching story about animals, love and trust and nature. Almost too amazing to be true but with wonderful photos to prove it! I will lie awake at night and dream of Jack and Patti and their bears. Thank you, Becklunds!

If you love animals, nature, the great outdoors, and reading about people who love all those things too, please get this book, sit down with a box of tissues, and enjoy! You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll shake your head in wonderment. The author Jack Becklund and his wife Patti, move deep into the Minnesota forests. Their property is home to deer gamboling on the lawn, chipmunks and hand-fed squirrels munching seeds on the porch,wild mallard ducks swimming and splashing in the creek below, and a colorful array of native birds. But the real heart of the story is Little Bit, the black bear cub who toddles onto the back deck one day, and stays for the next six summers as a welcome, loving, and deeply loved guest of the couple. She is a magical spirit, a living, breathing gift from God, sent to bring great joy to their lives. We are honored to meet Little Bit's cubs, her mates, and numerous other black bears who live in the area, and come to trust the Becklunds. The story itself is incredible, but between the lines, we watch the couple come to love and appreciate the power of this sacred trust they've been given...the joy of the relationship they share with these magnificent animals.This is a book for all time...a classic in every sense of the word. The photos are magnificent, and bring the personalities of the animals into beautiful focus.

Having grown up in the Hill Country, I was immediately drawn to this book. Woods' protrayal of her grandmother's life brought out the history of this area and her descriptions created vivid mental pictures. You'll find yourself not wanting to put the book down as you travel through time with this story of Laura Woods.

The main charracter , Laura, is a wonderfull role model for all women. What a story ! She has childhood loves to her adult problems and relationships. I enjoyed watching her grow. This story is rich and full . I miss reading about her. Laura was an amazing woman, yet so common that not only did I find my self pulling for her but I found myself changed and enspired by her . Her experiences became mine. My hat is off to this truely talented author. I hope she writes many many more books. I would also like to thank her for sharing Laura's story . What a WONDERFULL BOOK !!!!

I can not say enough about how much I enjoyed this book. From the beginning to the "wow" of an ending this book will have you hooked. A truely fantastic read. Laura (the main character ) is a very likeable child who grows into a remarkable woman. Her lifes journy takes the reader on a wonderful adventure. Along with her growth as a person the reader can't help but to grow also. A fantastic story.

Chris Offutt is a great short-story writer. You come out of a story of his thinking you have just read something small and simple, and it isn't until some time later that you realize what you've really been shown: a true emotional panorama, drawn with the most clear and efficient of lines; a sort of semantic loaves-and-fishes, where a comprehensive truth has been packed into an impossibly small space. Offutt has got a highly selective, quietly explosive palette; words you use a hundred times a day are coiled into powerfully emotive combinations. His characters are tack-sharp and of few words, and when they speak they seem to do it with the weight of heroes. Offutt's written a lot of good things, but the short story is presently where he's at his most powerful, and some of his best are in "Out of the Woods," particularly the title story, and "Melungeons," and "Tough People."

Presently you won't see Chris Offutt's name on any bestseller's list, but please don't let that discourage you from reading his wonderful work. In "Out of the Woods," Offutt follows the lives of ex-cons, alcoholics, gamblers, and drifters as they struggle to find direction and purpose.

Offutt's characters share one common thread, they were all born and raised in Appalachian communities in Kentucky. Reared in a culture in and of itself, these Kentuckians face harsh realities as they try to carve out a path for themselves in mainstream America. Most grapple with a strong desire to get out and see the world yet simultaneously they fight the urge to return to the comfort and security of home. In "Moscow, Idaho," a young prisoner on grave digging duty aims to turn over a new leaf and wonders if he will ever find a woman, a good job, and a town to settle in. "Two-Eleven All Around" is the story of a man who is so desperate for attention from his girlfriend, that he stages his own arrest in hope that she will hear about it while listening to her radio. These tales combine perseverance and heartbreak into poetic prose.

There have been comparisons of Offutt's writing to that of Raymond Carver's. Only in my opinion, Offutt is better. Carver's characters tend to present with a flat affect, but Offutt is able to take the reader subtly and deeply into his characters minds. Chris Offutt excels at what he writes about because he lived the life of his characters. He grew up in a small Appalachian community and at the age of nineteen he meandered across the country where he went through more than fifty jobs before returning to home and raising a family. Chris Offutt has come full circle and there is no doubt that he will find himself a place in the world of literature.

It's been a long time since I've read-- and re-read and re-read again-- a book that affected me as deeply as "Out of the Woods." It is beautiful story-telling, and I am grateful that someone with his gifts also has the access to share them with us. As a reader of fiction, I am not concerned with "authenticity" or "verification"; I am simply concerned with reading a good story. Thank you, Chris Offutt.